Monday, January 25, 2010

That most erudite of Fulham message boards has a new home. If you're familiar with FoF it won't look fantastically different but the team have made some nice improvements and, I think, are hoping for improved speed and reliability. So far I like what I see.

It's been a month since I saw the Whites in action and I'm chomping at the bit to see some live football. January hasn't been kind, though we have at least successfully navigated two rounds of the F.A. Cup. Tricky game at Quiet Hart Lane tomorrow night then my tension can be relieved with the visit of Villa on Saturday.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Roy's been linked with the Liverpool job. This is happening more often of late. Mr Hodgson being linked with "bigger" jobs. Each time I see one mentioned it makes me both proud and fearful. I know he's happy doing the job he's doing, but you couldn't blame him if one day he decides he'd like one last shot in a major job. Then he goes and says something like this,

"It's nice I'm being linked here and there, but it's not something I was aware of. We all know it's part of football. We also know the sword has two sides. One minute the sword is tapping you on your shoulder and asking you to arise, the next thing it's being used to cut your head off."

and I can breath a little easier.

I've missed the football today. The last time I went was for the Spurs game on Boxing Day and the next time I'm going is January 30th for the Villa game. It's been too long already and there's another two weeks to go. Ho-hum. Back to my chore list I suppose.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

I had planned to write a review of 2009 but as yet I've not found the time to finish it off. As you can tell from the photo below I've had many important and pressing engagements to take care of!

However, I do have a little heart warming tale to tell. Cast your minds back to the home game against Man United. You're smiling already, I can tell. That was, for obvious reasons, a very happy day. I'd planned to drive that day, to give my Dad a break as he travels to mine from East Sussex, but for one reason or another I didn't. As I didn't need them to hand I'd casually chucked my keys in my coat pocket. A pocket with a zip that inexplicably I didn't use. We scored three goals. I jumped up and down like a loon three times. Unbeknown to me my keys fell out of pocket during one of these moments of ecstasy. I'm guessing it was following Damien Duff's match ending volley.

It wasn't until we arrived home that I realised my keys were no longer there. I searched my coat, I searched my jeans, I searched Dad's car. No keys. Anyone who has heard about my travails with my glasses will know this sort of thing happens to me more often than they should for a 40 year old father of two! I rang the club and got through to Tommy on the enquiries line. He was really helpful and checked straight away to find out if they'd been handed in before advising me to ring the security office directly the next day.

The security team do a number of sweeps through the ground following a game, but none of these discovered my keys. In the afternoon I rang again and spoke to Ricky, a different member of the security team. I described where I sit and mentioned the concrete ledge that runs along the edge of the stand. Within an hour he called me back to say he'd found them and I could collect them any time. A quick trip up to the Cottage and all was well with the world again.

Sometimes life throws these little things at you to trip you up. Sometimes they'll get you down or add a bit of stress you just didn't need. This wasn't one of those times. Lady luck was on my side. I was as happy on that Sunday afternoon as I have been for a very long time. My keys had been recovered and my team had beaten Man United 3-0.

So, not the most exciting story you've ever heard but if nothing else a chance for me to publicly thank Ricky and Tommy. It seems to me, as our "little" club has got better and bigger it's actually improved it's people skills. I think the club does a lot right - good prices, good people working for us, good business management. We're a Premier League side with a multi-million pound turnover yet we've retained the feeling of being a family club.